By Peter Warrian
From Munk School Briefings
Abstract: Steel industry people carry around a lot of history. This is no surprise because the industry is one of the established foundation stones of the economy, and industry participants can look at a long list of economic, technical and commercial contributions to the Canadian economy and indeed to Canadian society. It may not be as obvious in downtown Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, but there is no debate about it in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie, Contrecoeur or Regina. Among other things a standard employment multiplier used in economic analysis points to the fact that there are many more jobs outside the industry for every direct job in steel. In addition, while most people understand and appreciate the importance of the auto industry to the steel industry – its biggest single consumer – what needs to be equally appreciated is the contribution of steel to other sections of manufacturing and our vital infrastructure. If we didn’t have the steel industry we have, we wouldn’t have the range of other important industries or the society that we have.
The Importance of Steel Manufacturing to Canada – A Research Study